Log:Spark of Rebellion

Aria gets her first spark of a more open rebellion...

OOC Date: March 30, 2023
Location: FRT Haulin Assets
Participants: Aria Voss, Saito, Bar'duur, Karlie

Slowly, Saito wraps his arms around Aria when he notices her state. "Aria.. What is wrong?" he asks, blinking in mild confusion at the Zeltron's reaction. He offers a nod to the Zabrak. "Oh, so you've worked for mercenaries, before.. Well, I'll admit that I suck when it comes to ground combat.. But if you put me in the canopee of a fighter or in a cocpit, well, than things become different.." he pauses andd thinks for a few moments. "That reminds me.. I should really tryt o learn how to use a pistol properly, at least.." he hasn't forgoten about Aria, a handd gently raising to caress her hair.

Aria shakes her head slightly at Saito's question. "I'm fine," she assures, that smile, however small, still lingering on her lips. "Just... letting my mind wander a bit too much."

Her eyes half-lid, though, when his fingers comb through her hair, and a soft breath blows past her lips. /That/ seemed to do the trick. Whatever tension she seemed to be feeling bleeds away, allowing her shoulders to relax back against him.

Her eyes are almost closed by the time he's mentioning the blaster, and the content 'hmmmm' she practically purrs sounds /almost/ like a laugh. "You should get Bar to teach you." She smirks, eyes still closed. "Maybe we can get a two-for-one discount. I've never even held one."

Another moment passes, however, and her eyes open again, looking up. "Did you want that cup of tea I'd offered? I think I... got distracted."

Bar'duur has a thoughtful, or concerned sort of look on his face as he watches Aria, silent for a moment, before looking back to Saito and he shrugs a bit. "Sure, I can do that.. I've done most things.. I was trained to fly a fighter by an old rebel fighter ace.. that was in the /first/ mercenary group I worked with, they were called Rebel yell." He says with a little smirk. "That's how I learned to fly my avenger.." He says this while looking between the two of them, and he lifts his cup for a slow sip and swallow. "I can teach most people most things involving being a merc." He says with a shrug. "Power armor, jetpacks, EVA assaults.. turret gunery, fighter gunner, military tactics and small-scale strategy."

"Well, some tea would be appreciated," Saitoo answers Aria's question, sighing for a moment. "Well, if you want to talk about it later, just let me know," he offers, the hand thats on her hair falling back to his side. He turns his atention to the converssation with the Zabrak. "Well, how much would you charge to teach me a few things? I can fly most ships well.. But when it comes to ground combat, well, as I said, I really suck.. And well, life taught me that we have to be prepared for most things.."

"I know." Aria says softly, nothing but sincerity in her voice. Freed of that petting -- because she lacked the willpower to pull away when he was doing that -- she actually turned around to look him. She leaned up on tip-toe, placing a soft kiss on his lips. "Don't worry," she whispers, /fully/ aware that she's interrupting them right in the middle of their conversation. "I over-think everything. It's part of what makes me so brilliant."

Her eyes sparkle with amusement and she gives him a wink. Her hand brushes against his hand, and then she's moving back to put the water back on the heat again.

"You know, Bar, with our combined resources, we could probably put together a little militia. You could go back into training full time, if you wanted."

But a militia for what?

Bar'duur lifts his tea for another deep sip, his eyes shifting to Aria, back to Saito again, pausing when she interrupts the conversation to speak. "Well, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, I do not understand how things work, I just know how to use them." He shrugs a bit. "I can make a spear, and I could probably forge basic things, but not technology, so much." He casts a smirk over to Aria. "I could.. what would we need that for? Are you going to start the Voss Intergalactic Mercenary Company?"

Aria's kiss caught Saito by surprise. He kisses her back and when shee goes too prepare his tea, he blinks, as if dased, a blush coloring his cheeks, a big smile on his lips. He stutters a few times before he blinks and his ability to think returns. "Well, if you do create a militia, the question you should ask yourselves is to won would you offer its servisses?" he asks, aparently taking hte proposition seriously. "What sort of jobs would you accept and how would you manage the operation? And Bar.. The truth is that I could really learn how to use a blaster.. If you could teach me that, I'd be grateful.."

There's a giggle. An honest to goodness, quiet little giggle that escapes, her back still to the two men. She leans up to open one of the cabinets, again up on tip-toe to reach a can of tea leaves, and in the process, she glances over her shoulder, locking eyes with Saito.

She could be /such/ a roller-coaster of emotions, sometimes -- at one moment, buried deep in the recesses of her own self doubt: the understanding that while credits were fun to flaunt, they didn't determine her worth. And then, the next moment, flirting across her kitchen with a man she'd only really started to know well for a couple of days. And she was giddy as a schoolgirl about it.

Of course, to /really/ understand, you'd have to be a woman. And Zeltron. It's those emotions she keeps picking up on that help sway her one way or another, not leading her around on a leash, but certainly either nudging her off of a cliff or lifting her up to new hights.

Pink fingertips touch the can she's after, fingernails scraping along the edge, and then she sighs and gives up trying to reach it. "Why not?" she asks Bar, her hands settling on her hips. "After finding out that /someone/ is trying to sabotage one of my shipments, shouldn't I have a plan in place to defend my people? My assets?"

A bit of surprise in her features, though, when she looks at Saito. "Well, I hadn't... gotten that far," she admits. "There would probably be a /lot/ to think about, logistically." Her gaze lingers on him. "But it's possible." For her? It was definitely possible. She had that /look/ in her eye.

Bar'duur hmms quietly.. considering this for a moment. His smile fades but his expression grows more neutral, and thoughtful. "Well.. if you're serious about that.. I've done it before, I'm certain we could do it.." His gaze turns to Saito, and back to Aria. "Well, my company Greywatch we used to protect bulk shipments, often we were employed by the Hutts." He explains. "You can do a lot with a corvette, a gunboat like Assets, and a few fighters. Assets also doubles really well as an assault transport, and.." He nods toward the speeder truck. "That comes in handy too."

Then thiers the smell of joy and Warm hugs... Moments later is the sunny face of Karlie as she peeks in " You guys see a tiny RugRat with a hydro spanner did you? " She says peering around she even snaps down some goggles as she inspects teh place as if looking for one of her wayward children .

"I mean.. Having a militia would probably increase your profits," the red-haired man muses, eyes between the Zeltron and the Zabrak. "Imean what concepts would you accept?? And most importantly.. What would you refuse?" he inquires, aparently oonly sharing his own randon thoughts with the other two. He nods to the horned man. "Exactly.. I mean if this company continues to grow, I think our transports would need better security sooner or later.. So, why not sooner?" he is about to say more but then another Zeltron peeks through the door. "No, I don't think we did," the young pilto says in a polite tone. He looks gaze with Aria for a brief moment and cilently nods to her.

"I am," Aria says when Bar'duur asks if she's serious, so much conviction in her voice that it seemed even to surprise her. She nods at him, but then she's looking back at Saito, her lower lip worriedly tucked between her teeth.

What Aria knew about raising an army could be hand-written in marker on an MSE-droid logic circuit. Spice? Check. Alcohol? Yep. /Raising an Army?/

And yet, there was still that /glow/ of aspiration in her eyes, a sense of excitement that seemed to radiate from her almost like a tangible thing. Oh, yes. A militia was going to happen. It wasn't a matter of if. It was a matter of how, and how long.

Saito's mention of /why not sooner/ only seems to push that to new heights, her violet eyes already a swirl of thought, dancing around the room as if she were crunching numbers or making social network connections in her head. "Okay... I have... calls to make. Do me a favor? Nobody mention this. To /anyone/ that we don't trust. I don't trust what the Hutts--"

RugRats. Children. Aria's eyes snap back to Karlie, blinking, smiling. "Uhm... no. No children. Sorry." Had there been children on any of Aria's previous flights? She hadn't seen them... how /many/ children were there?.. if Aria was contracting out these flights, was she putting them in danger?.. What did children /do/ on ships, anyway?... Well, steal hydrospanners, obviously.

Aria's eyes dance a little more, doing more mental math. And then the water for her tea is whistling, and reaches for her, wincing when she burns herself in the steam and shaking her hand out, then grabbing it again. "Saito, would you grab that tin from the counter, please? I can't reach it.."

Bar'duur glances over toward the entrance and smirks a bit. "Havn't see her.. Misha! Where are you?" He calls, turning and making his way toward one of the vents. "I said no crawling in the ve=ents." He says in a sing-song manner, and from somewhere in a crawlspace, can be heard... "I'm not in da ve-ent!"

Bar'duur glances over to Aria, and Saito with a smile and he shrugs. "You don't have to trust the hutts to take their credits, you just have to make sure you look over the contracts very, very carefully, for the extra small print."

Karlie Looks up " and expect a Tripple or more cross " She says simply " They will try and screw you over and they will try and cheat you out of yoru credits in some way shape or form " She says simply " So always be aware of that " AH HA! " She sasy turning around adn grabbing a giggling kid before giving them a kiss and sending them on thier way " Got my hydrospanner back "

The red-haired pilot nods to Aria. Cilently, he moves to get the tin that Aria asked for, his cise helping in this situation. He extends his arm to the Zeltron, holding the tin for her. Aria's excitement causes the pilot to smile. "We have a lot of things to think about, really.. Who will we hire? What level of experience do we want from our soldiers or members?" he muses about that outloud and sighs. "Do we have to deal with the Hutts? Can't we hire from independents?" he turns his head when he hears the voice of Bar's child, a smile appearing on his lips. Noticing that the other Zeltron in the room isn't familiar, he approaches Karlie and extends her a hand. "I don't believe we've meet before. My name is Saito," he says with a polite smile.

"Thank you," Aria says warmly when she takes the tin from Saito, laughing softly at all of his questions. "They're good questions. All of them." Before he can get away, she steps up and leans up to give him another quick kiss on the lips, grinning at him, a mischievous smile seeming to suggest one thing -- she enjoyed the reaction she got out of him the last time. But she doesn't linger. She turns to adding the leaves to the basket and starting the tea steeping.

But then her eyes, violet and alert, are turned upwards.

"They're in the /walls/ ?"

As if she was living in some Holo-Horror-Flick with flesh eating porgs sneaking through the vents.

And then one runs past, and Aria lifts her hands a little -- either afraid of hitting it in the head accidentally or afraid it was going to bite her fingers. Her smile turns a little awkward, but Karlie providing a kiss and sending them off seems to help.

"That's... adorable." She didn't mean adorable. But she said it. All smiles.

Watching Saito introduce himself, however, has that smile softening again. She takes a little breath in and blows it out, then goes back to tending to her tea pot.

Bar'duur hmms, the voice didn't sound like one of the ones.. oh, /another/ child has the hydrospanner, they did mention they have quite a few.. twelve? That was the number thrown around. "Was it Misha?" He asks Karlie, Oh, Karla." Says the man with a little chuckle, and he clears his throat. "Appologies.." He gestures to Saito. "Saito, this is Karlie, my wife, and the woman who maintains the ship for us, along with other ships if you ask nicely." He says this as a little grin grows on his expression. "Saito here's a a /pilot/ ." He says to Karlie.

Karlie Blinks and frowns " I'm your mate dear.. I'm not a fan of that whole only you and me kinda deal.. I'm a zeltron after all " She smirks as she puts a hand on her hip.. as she looks over " Pilots are good .. Like he said.. I fix.. upgrade rebuilt all that stuff .. "